If They're There, They're There
by hug-me
Summary: Castle loves a good ghost story, Beckett loves to tease Castle, and Esposito and Ryan love to mess with both of them! Started as a prompt from TheGreyWolfGhost
1. Chapter 1

**This started life as a challenge from TheGreyWolfGhost and it has taken me a while to get out! I have some ideas but would welcome any suggestions! **

"_Don't matter if you believe in them or not. If they're there, they're there." _

_Joan Lowery Nixon_

Beckett appraised the sweaty, nervous looking suspect sat across the table from her. An eyebrow raised and a look of complete contempt covered her face.

"I'm telling you the truth lady," the man leaned in. Beckett subconsciously leaned further back in her chair. Beads of sweat were dripping down the sides of his face, making his jet black sideburns shine under the harsh light in the interrogation room. His beady eyes darted from side to side before he dropped his voice to an almost whisper.

"I was just sitting there, minding my own business, checking out this cute waitress." He turned his attention to Castle with a knowing look. "Man you should have seen her, little blue skirt, hair all dolled up, ginormous…" he trailed off when he caught the look on the detective's face. "Anyway, yeah I was smiling at this lady when BAM," he slammed his fist on the table that made Castle jump a mile. "It appeared from nowhere! This…thing…all white and wispy lookin' glided right through that guy and he just fell on the floor. Dead!"

Castle turned his head towards Beckett, eyes glinting with excitement. Beckett rolled her eyes at her partner. Of course he was falling for this; hook, line and sinker. He loved a good ghost story.

"A ghost? Really?" Beckett questioned in a bored tone.

"Scouts honor." The man raised his left hand with a solemn look on his face. He was obviously never a scout.

She huffed herself out of her seat giving Castle a not so subtle look to follow her out of the room.

"Sit tight Bill, you're going to be here a while" she informed the suspect as she stalked out.

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Castle was hot on her heels as they made their way over to the murder board. She could feel the excitable energy radiating off of him in waves.

"A ghost! Beckett it all makes perfect sense!" She plonked the files on her desk before slumping down into her chair. It had been a really long day. Castle parked himself in his usual seat, but right on the edge, a foot tapping up and down.

"Let's look at the evidence shall we? A) Ghosts don't show up on CCTV footage so we can't see it on those tapes, B) Our victim did go really rigid like something had possessed him before he fell over, C)…"

Beckett quickly interrupted his list before he got even more carried away. "Yes Castle let's look at the evidence. Namely, this was definitely not a murder by a ghost. End of. Bill is just a sleazy murderer laying down the groundwork for his insanity plea."

Castle pouted and opened his mouth to argue back.

"Here you are boss; Perlmutter's autopsy report," Esposito chucked a file onto Beckett's desk, silencing Castle's comeback. With her eyes still on Castle, and a slight smirk on her face, she reached for the report. She knew it wasn't professional to have favorites in the Precinct but Lanie would have had this report to her a lot sooner and would have saved all this ghost nonsense from filling his head and clouding his judgement. Flipping over the cover she quickly scanned the first page.

"Ha. Poisoning." A triumphant look on her face. "See Castle, a real explanation to go with a real murder. NO, don't even think about trying to convince me that a ghost somehow poured the poison into our victim when he 'passed through' him," she told him as she got out of her chair to go and formally charge Bill, "we all know that ghosts can't actually hold onto anything."

Wait. "What? Kate Beckett did you just acknowledge that there are such things as ghosts?!" Castle gaped after her. She turned her head with an eyebrow raised before she rounded the corner. Castle turned to Esposito, his mouth still slightly open in shock.

"Did you hear that?! Skepticus Maximus definitely acknowledged that ghosts are real," he whispered in awe.

"Bro, you know Beckett, she is just yanking your chain."

"She wouldn't do that," then at the look he was getting from the detective, "ok maybe she would." He slumped, feeling a bit deflated. He wanted her to believe in something other worldly; it was exciting and hopeful. He knew there was no such thing as ghosts, but he liked to believe. It was like the excitement a child would get at the thought of Santa, whether they knew the truth or not; the idea that there was something out there... he had been accused of being a man-child on numerous occasions, his supposed belief in the supernatural certainly fit into this.

"Yeah, I know it wouldn't have been a ghost. How it could it have been right?" Castle sighed.

Esposito wasn't clueless; he was a detective after all. Although Castle's crazy stories, crazier theories, and downright outrageous plans drove him up the wall at times, it's what made him Castle. He knew that he held Beckett on such a high pedestal, that she could do no wrong in his eyes, and while it was fun to watch her make fun of him, he felt bad for the guy. It was hard to watch him get crushed over and over again by the boss. She crushed him because she loved him, not that that made any sense! But that is how their relationship worked. He would say something stupid, she would tell him just how stupid it was while giving him love eyeballs. Verbal sexual swordplay between Mom and Dad. Gross.

Time for an intervention, supernatural style.

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Esposito and Ryan were in The Old Haunt with a beer, relaxing after finally wrapping up the case. A poisoning was hard to prove; no murder weapon, no fingerprints. But, as always, they had managed it. Turned out that Bill was the brother of the victim's ex-girlfriend. She hadn't appreciated him cheating on her so got her brother to get revenge. She had kept the keys to his apartment and so her and Bill let themselves in to kindly swap his sugar substitute with something altogether more deadly. A partial fingerprint of the sister had been found in the kitchen, and since the couple had been broken up for a while, it had led the detectives to the ex, and a rather dramatic confession.

"She was one crazy girl, did you see the wild look in her eyes?" Ryan asked while taking a swig.

"Why is it always the hot girls that turn out to be psychopaths?" mused Esposito. Lately he had been attracted to a number of their suspects that seemed like kick ass girls, but actually turned out to be insane.

"Dude, you are so messed up," Ryan replied with a slightly disgusted look on his face. "Get over your commitment phobia and get back with Lanie. She isn't psycho."

"She cuts up dead bodies for a living; there has to be a little crazy in there."

"You are a homicide detective. That is just as messed up. A match made in heaven I would say."

"Anyway" Esposito started to steer the conversation away from his relationship issues and onto another "I think we have a problem."

"Yeah? With what?" Ryan only looked vaguely interested. He had one eye glued to the game that was playing on the TV above the bar.

"Castle and Beckett"

"Eugh I know, that love eyeball thing is really grossing me out."

"No, not that! Though yeah, that is really gross," Esposito trailed off, replaying earlier memories in his mind and causing a shiver of disgust to run up his spine. Shaking his head, as if to try and shake away the image, he continued "Beckett keeps kicking Castle like a little puppy, and while I enjoy watching him squirm, I can't help but feel bad for the guy."

"So, what are you suggesting? You _are _crazy if you are thinking of telling Beckett how to treat her boyfriend. I may as well shoot you now and get it over with!" Ryan snorted.

"I was thinking more along the lines of having a bit of fun with this. No reason why we can't get a kick out of helping our boy out while getting Beckett back for keeping their relationship a secret from us in the first place" he quirked his eyebrow, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"I take it you have a plan?"

"Remember the ghost story that sleazy guy told Castle and Beckett…."

**Laying the ground work! Reviews and ideas much appreciated**


	2. Chapter 2

"Yo Beckett, we got a fresh one" Esposito yelled across the bullpen as he shrugged on his coat and grabbed his keys.

"Can you guys take point? I am completely swamped here," she replied, barely glancing up from the mountain of paperwork that had somehow accumulated on her desk. If she had a partner that could actually put his writing talents to good use for a change then maybe her right hand wouldn't be verging on becoming crippled. But no, he wasn't interested, especially not when he had reached an infuriating Angry Birds level; she smirked at the screwed up look of concentration on his face, and the huff of frustration when he failed…again. Such a child.

"Sure boss. Hey Castle, want to come with? I hear it is a freaky one…" Espo sing-songed, as if he needed to sell a dead body to the resident murder-mystery novelist.

"Really?!" Castle's head shot up, his phone dropping into his lap. He seriously shouldn't be so excited about murder. He turned to Beckett, a look of pleading in his eyes. Mom always has to give permission, especially when Dad is asking. The boys watching gave an eye roll, and one of them, probably Ryan, made the noise of a whip crack.

Beckett turned a glare towards him, "Yeah, because it isn't like Jenny hasn't got you eating out the palm of her hand?" Ryan shrunk under her look.

Turning to Castle she gave her permission; "Go, go, it's not like you are doing anything useful is it?"

Castle jumped up and high fived Espo, and all three made their way to the elevator. "I'll bring you back coffee," he called over his shoulder. Boy's road trip!

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Castle was perched on the back seat, elbows propped up on the two in the front letting him lean forward to be in on the action. Ryan was driving them back to the precinct after checking out the crime scene. It had indeed been freaky; a man had been found in his kitchen with his face mashed into a waffle iron. Castle had made a quip about how the killer probably preferred pancakes earning a puff of laughter and an accompanying eye roll; not to the standards of Beckett's but close enough.

"So who is our first suspect?" Castle shuffled further forward in his seat.

"Well, his neighbor said that he had a girlfriend so we'll look into her first…erm Candice Nolan" Esposito checked his notes before getting out his phone to search for her name.

"Nolan? That reminds me, I need to have a Batman marathon" Castle mused to himself.

"Ah yes, your alter-ego. Beckett told us dude" Ryan laughed, "why Batman out of curiosity?"

"The Dark Knight, isn't that obvious? Knight, Castle? Knights of a Castle? No?"

"No we get it bro, just doesn't seem like quite the right fit."

"Ok who would you peg me for?" Castle challenged. "And don't say Captain Manhattan."

A moment of silence and a look between the two detectives.

"Robin" "Definitely the Boy Wonder"

"What?! That is so not cool. He is like a kid!"

The boys were smirking at him, "Come on Castle, you are more comedic kid sidekick than leading material. Remember screaming like a girl and jumping behind Beckett last week when the guy fell out the wardrobe?"

"It wasn't a scream, and I definitely jumped _in front _of her, you know to protect her."

"Bro you don't want Beckett to hear you say that," Esposito warned.

Castle grimaced, imagining the pain he would be in if he ever did that. Determined to get the conversation back on track he went in a different direction; "Well, yeah maybe, but besides, if I was Robin and she was Batman that is just way too weird to even contemplate."

"Did you not see the 60s TV show? There was definitely something going on between those two," Ryan cringed.

"Please, that show can't be included in the Batman franchise. No, if I am Robin then she needs to be Catwoman. Still weird, but better, and she does like leather…"

"Oh my god!" "Duuudee, shut up!" their smirks were replaced withlooks of disgust and Espo had swung round to thump him.

Castle had the decency to look sheepish, "Sorry, I say things without thinking"

"Yeah, we realized." Ryan deadpanned. Espo turned back to stare out the window. Silence descended; the detectives trying to shake out the indecent image of their boss, Castle doing everything he can to _not _forget that image.

A minute or so passed, when suddenly the radio blared into life, full volume. Castle screamed, Esposito grabbed hold of the dashboard, and Ryan slammed on the breaks.

"What the hell?!" Espo lunged for the radio, trying to mute the high pitched static noise that filled the car and their ears. Castle had his hands over his trying to block out the sound; like nails down a blackboard.

"It won't turn off, it won't turn off!" Espo was yelling as he was flicking every switch, turning every dial, until he resorted to just smacking it. Ryan maneuvered the car to the side of the road and switched off the engine. The noise continued to blare out; was it getting louder?

"What do we do?" With his hands still over his ears, Castle couldn't even hear his own question.

"Get out the car!" Ryan shouted back and reached for the door handle. The locks slid down. They were locked in. Castle had slid over to the passenger door and was rattling the handle, leaving his ears open to the onslaught.

"Unlock the doors! Ahhh that sound, my brain is going to explode!"

"I can't!" Ryan was pressing the button on the keys but nothing was happening.

And just like that, the radio switched off, the doors unlocked and Castle went tumbling out onto the sidewalk; he had been simultaneously shoving his body against the door while shaking the handle. He lay there spread eagled, face down, panting, adrenaline coursing through his body.

"Have I gone deaf?" his voice came out a little fearful and a little mystified.

"No dude, you're fine" Espo called from the car. He had his head tipped all the way back on the head rest, eyes closed.

"Right. Good." He clambered up and rubbed down the dust from his shirt, wincing as his back cracked.

"I can still hear it" he murmured as he sidled into the car again. Ryan was staring straight ahead, hands gripping the steering wheel.

"Yeah. Me too."

"What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea."

Castle breathed out and looked down, "Oh man, I tore my pants. And there's blood" he whined. "Have either of you got a band aid?"

"Sure bro, there is a first aid kit under Ryan's seat"

While Castle was rooting around under the seat in front of him, Ryan and Espo shared a look before schooling their features as the Boy Wonder sat back up with the kit.

"Ok let's go." Ryan sighed and moved to put the keys back in the ignition.

They were only ten minutes away from the precinct but Castle spent the whole time with his hands hovering a few inches from his ears just in case. He wasn't taking any chances. As soon as Ryan put the car in park outside the 12th, Castle leapt from the car onto the street with a look of relief.

Ryan leaned over to Esposito.

"Has LT set it all up?" he murmured.

"Yeah, he text me when we were leaving the vic's house."

"Let the games begin" Ryan smirked, giving Espo a little fist bump. This was going to be good, though he wished he had thought ahead and put ear plugs in before getting back in that car. Small price to pay, he thought with a grin as he opened the door. If ever this detective thing got old, perhaps they could have a career in acting.


	3. Chapter 3

The boys arrived back on the homicide floor, Castle looking a little worse for wear. Even Esposito and Ryan didn't look that right.

"What happened to you guys?" Beckett asked, walking down the hall with a cup of coffee in her hands. She looked Castle up and down, noting the rips in his pants.

"Oh, I fell," he didn't want to elaborate too much. It was a little embarrassing though at the time all he wanted was to get out that damn car.

"Ha. Fell? More like went flying out the car and landed spread eagle on the sidewalk!"

"Thanks man."

"You are very welcome" Espo smirked before clapping him on the back and moved off to his desk.

"What were you doing leaping from the car? You weren't chasing anyone down were you?"

"No no! It's just, well, the radio just kicked into life with this high pitched noise. Seriously it was so loud and got right into your brain and you just couldn't escape it. It would make a great torture tool. I would happily give up any information to not hear that again…"

"Castle, focus"

"Right, well the car like, locked us in and I was trying to get out and the door just swung open hence the spread eagling" he rattled the explanation knowing it sounded odd.

"The car locked you in?"

"I don't know how else to explain it."

"Oookkaayy" Beckett looked confused but resigned to the fact that this was the only explanation he was going to give. "Why don't you go home and change, maybe write a little?"

"You are kicking me out?" Castle pouted.

"No, just, you seem a bit out of it. Go get some rest and come back later ok? Or I will just meet you at your place tonight."

Castle rubbed a hand down his face, tired, but he could feel his mind whirling and the itch in his fingers to write. He sighed, "Yeah ok, we'll order take-out"

"Sure, see you later" she smiled at him. A Kate smile, not a Beckett smile.

He glanced quickly around them, and after not seeing any prying eyes, he leant in and lightly pressed a kiss to her lips. This was definitely against her PDA rules at the precinct but he liked to bend them. She hummed into the kiss, before pulling away.

"Later" he agreed with his own small smile, before turning and getting back in the elevator.

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Beckett lifted her eyes to the clock. 4pm; just another hour to go before she can head out. One hour to get as much information as she can on the unfortunate waffle victim that the boys went to check out earlier. A waffle iron? She has seen some weird stuff in her time as a detective and this certainly ranks up there. She has to hand it to some murderers; they can be very creative. Unfortunately, the weirder they are, the harder they seem to be to solve. You wouldn't have thought that so many people had bought that same make of waffle iron in the past couple of days.

She shuffled some papers; there wasn't much to do apart from wait for more information from Lanie. She flicked her eyes back up to the clock. 4.05pm. Time goes slower; in fact it pretty much stops, when Castle isn't there to give a constant stream of theories, quips, and caffeine. She goes to take a sip of her coffee and balks at the cold, bitter, grainy liquid that has been sitting stagnant at the bottom of the mug for the past hour. Eugh, refill. Beckett stretched her arms above her head before getting up and moving down the bullpen, passing Esposito at his desk, on the phone.

"I told you it's the regular square shaped one, what else could it be?" he grits out, clearly losing patience. "Hearts? Are you kidding me? What self-respecting man would buy a heart shaped waffle iron?"

Catching his eye, Beckett mouths 'coffee' and points at her empty mug, to which he shoots an appreciative look and leans over to pass her his 'World's Best Detective' tumbler.

Entering the break room, she shuts the door and leans back on it, eyes closed. Sometimes you just have to pause and breathe, shut away the hustle and bustle, the un-answerable questions. Though there are only more questions when she eventually turns to the intricate coffee machine; she has never known how to work the thing. Castle has always been the one getting her coffee, or the boys will get her a cup when they make one.

Placing Espo's tumbler on the counter she tentatively puts her mug under one of many spouts, and hovers her fingers over the dials and knobs. Before she even makes a decision, the machine whirls into life; steam spurting, coffee grinding, milk frothing.

Ok. Weird. Go with it. She leans a hip against the cabinet and waits for her latte to come together.

Then it stops.

She raises a well-shaped eyebrow at the machine and presses the restart button. Nothing. More buttons are pressed. Nothing. She checks that there is coffee beans in the grinder, that there is milk in the container; all present and accounted for. As a last resort she squats down to the plug point and finds the plug lying on the floor. What?

She glances behind her at the rest of the room. Alone.

She plugs the machine back in, and the whirling mechanics begin again. Kate stares at the plug for a couple of seconds, as if expecting it to jump out at her, before straightening up to look at how that latte is coming along. Finished already; that is the quickest coffee machine in the world. Castle definitely doesn't scrimp when it comes to gadgets and coffee. Hell, he never scrimps on anything. He even bought the most expensive plot of land on the moon!

Kate picks up her mug and raises it to her lips to take a grateful swig. As she does, she raises her eyes and screams; the drink clattering to the floor, scalding liquid everywhere.

The door bursts open and the boys come rushing in.

"Boss?!"

"What's going on?!"

They stand just inside the door, panting slightly from the adrenaline jolt her scream produced. Beckett seems frozen to the spot, her eyes wide, face white, staring at the window out into the bullpen above the machine.

"Beckett" Ryan called, moving further into the room, finding a path through the mess.

"I…I think…" she starts, and stops, clears her throat and seems to snap back into herself.

She glances down at the shattered coffee mug and then turns towards the boys, "Never mind, just, the light playing tricks" though that didn't sound particularly convincing

"You sure? What did you see?"

"It's stupid. I couldn't have seen it," she mutters as she bends down to start clearing up.

"Come on, tell us!"

Beckett pauses mid-pick up and looks up at them.

"I thought I saw an outline of a person" she mumbles, embarrassed.

"An outline of a person? Like as in a shadow?" Ryan seems confused.

"No, not exactly" she hesitantly answers, "more…translucent than that"

Esposito crosses her arms and smirks at her, "Beckett, are you telling us you saw a ghost?"

"I don't know okay, just, hand me a towel" she grouses gesturing to the stack of cloths next to the sink.

"Castle is going to have a field day with this! After that radio thing this morning, and then you actually seeing a ghost!" Ryan is getting more and more excited.

"Do NOT tell him about this," she orders him in her best detective voice and pointing one, long finger at his chest. "Seriously he will be unbearable. And I didn't see a ghost, it was a trick of the light." Though she still doesn't sound that convinced.

"Sorry Beckett, just texted him" Kate whirls round to Esposito who has his phone in his hand, waving it at her, looking anything but sorry, in fact, he looks extremely pleased with himself. Ryan laughing and made his way out of the break room to answer his ringing desk phone, high-fiving his partner.

"I'm going to kill you," she promises him, hands on her hips.

"Not if the ghosts get you first."

He dodges as a wet, coffee soaked towel is thrown at his face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the wait guys, exams and graduation ahhh! This is pretty short, but hopefully better than nothing. Oh and before we move on to the chapter, I want to plug a fic that I am co-writing with TheGreyWolfGhost called 'The Heat Draws the Storm'! You should go check it out**

"Where did you even get all this stuff?" Beckett asked with an amused tone, though she was not at all surprised that he had a box of ghost detecting equipment. Castle had arrived from the loft, struggling with a big brown box that she had certainly never come across before. He had then proceeded to dump the contents onto the big table in the break room and was rummaging through the various gadgets and gizmos; toys in other words.

"Oh, I know a guy" he answered, too distracted by the EVP recorder he was attempting to pull from the pile.

"Wow Castle, could you be any vaguer?"

"What? I know lots of guys. You know this." He stopped trying to untangle the mass of wires to look up at her, a sly grin on his face. "If you are interested, I even know a guy that makes custom-made leather bon…" The rest was muffled as she slapped a hand over his mouth and shot him a death glare.

"Will you shush! Time and a place Castle, and the break room at the precinct is _not _the place."

"Does that mean that this is a conversation we can have?" his eyes had gone from teasing, to shock and a little arousal.

She shook her head at him, though there was a smile there. "Gotta have some way of cheering you up when all that thing records is the sound of a bunch of cops munching donuts," she teased. "What does that thing even do?"

"It records ghosts." Duh. "Seriously have you not seen The Sixth Sense?"

"Of course I have Castle, but it's a movie…fiction."

"The _story _might have been fiction, but that doesn't mean that the ghosts weren't. I'm telling you, this is going to explain all the weird stuff that has been going on."

"Woah Castle, forget Robin, you are Inspector Gadget" Ryan called out as he walked into the break room, stopping suddenly at the small electrical store that seemed to have taken up shop in there.

Castle swung round to the detective with his eyes alight, "Ooo that would be so cool! Go go gadget extension arms" He flung his arms out in the direction of his coffee mug and his face screwed up in concentration. A pause. "Ok it needs some work" he shrugged before turning back to his box and Beckett.

"Robin?" she murmured to him, an eyebrow raised. He waved her off mumbling something to do with Lycra and Catwoman but his attention was firmly back on the recorder.

"Ha. Done." He straightened up, a look of satisfaction and excitement on his face. "Time to catch me some ghosts!" he exclaimed and clapped his hands together.

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The next morning Castle was up bright and early for once. Normally, if Kate had stayed at the loft, she would be the first one up, leaving him in bed, while she showered and left for the precinct. He would follow at a more decent hour with a delivery of take-out coffee for her and baked goods for the boys. Of course, he argued that this was to keep up pretences with the Captain; if they arrived together all the time then surely she would know something was going on with them.

Today was different. He had practically dragged her out of bed, at 6am, hopping from foot to foot as she got ready. Ok, so she may have purposefully taken a bit longer in the shower, a bit longer doing her hair and make-up, a bit longer deciding what to wear. Though there was definitely something amiss at the precinct; that she thought she saw something in the window, she was not convinced that it was anything supernatural.

There is no such thing as ghosts.

She had said that maybe a hundred times in the space of 24 hours, but it has had little effect. In fact Castle has taken to ignoring her completely; chattering on about some ghost story he researched on his phone, a real life encounter on the Brooklyn Bridge, strange noises and lights in an abandoned building in Queens. She attempted to refute them all, but after Esposito filled Castle in to her reaction in the break room, he just raises an eyebrow, a smirk on his face, and a "Now Beckett, don't be saying things you don't believe. That's called _lying_."

Smug bastard.

Esposito will be on paperwork duty for the rest of the month.

"Castle, if you tell me to hurry up one more time, I am getting back into bed and starting all over again" she warned. He pouted but fell silent, shuffling off into the study, probably to his laptop and the numerous websites he had found on ghost encounters.

Fifteen minutes later, the detective emerges, coat on, boots on, keys in hand. "You coming Castle? I have been waiting by the door for the last ten minutes!" She gets a glower in return as he bolts up from his desk and ushers her out of the study to the front door.

"Can I drive?" he asks, bouncing from foot to foot, just like a nine year old.

By the time they get to the precinct, Beckett wished that she let him drive. Maybe that would have distracted him and stopped the crazy theories and 'what ifs' spurting from his mouth every five seconds. She had now taken to just nodding or grunting. He wasn't interested in her responses to his theories, he was on a roll of wild speculation and she may as well not have even been there.

Ryan and Espo were already at their desks when they got out of the elevator, looking a little sleep deprived.

Beckett raised an eyebrow at them, "what are you doing here so early?"

"Oh Ryan couldn't wait to see if Castle caught any ghosts and I couldn't wait to laugh in both of their faces when all he manages to catch are the sounds of the night janitor sweeping the corridor!" Espo explained.

"The 12th doesn't even have a night janitor so if there are sounds of sweeping then joke's on you. Ghost Janitor." Castle shot back, giving Ryan a high five as he walked past to the break room.

Espo snorted, but followed his partner and Castle into the break room. This was going to be good.


End file.
